The best day of your life with Elephants 🐘🌿

I have always wanted to see Elephants up close but I've always been worried about their treatment. However my friend recommended this sanctuary to me and I had the best day of my life! This sanctuary is a safe haven for Elephants that used to be used for hard manual labour in the logging industry, these animals are loved and cared for and it is such a positive environment. The staff are amazing (Particularly K & Kevin) and you can tell they love what they do and they are proud of the fantastic work they've done saving and caring for so many elephants. You start off by learning about the organisation, the elephants and most importantly what they eat! Then you prepare the food for the elephants, they eat all day pretty much so it's a constant task. Then you have the chance to feed the Elephants bananas, watermelon and the rice balls you prepared. The elephants are very friendly and calm, you can get super close to feed them, stroke them and just generally take it all in. Then it's time to change into some swimwear and head to the mud bath, you cover them in mud then have fun washing it all off. Then move to the big pool to swim with them, clean them and brush down their skin. Last up time for the elephant shower, like a huge carwash these Elephants take it all in and relax as you help clean them up after the mud & swimming. Then a thai cooking class learning how to cook a delcious pad thai, then a really delicious and filling buffet. I was really blown away by this day, every element was incredible and the staff were very supportive throughout. I was a solo traveller and they picked up on this very early on, remembering my name and asking if I needed anything. Also helping to take photos of me throught the day to make sure I had memories of this exprience. I would honestly do this again if I was in Phuket for longer, it was such an incredible experience and I would recommend it to anyone! Once again massive thank you to Kevin & K and all the elephant keepers, you did an incredible job - keep up the good work! I wish there were more men like you in the world. #elephantsanctuary #bangtao #thailand #elephant #phukettravel #travel #phuket